[2018 Six Nations] England Squad

[Nudger]

I agree with you that he shouldn't but in the past EJ's preferred Itoje to Launch so I can see it being the case.

Yes but eddys seen the light

 

[Reiser99]

Ok...so as I said in the match thread, the only good thing about the England performance is that hopefully it is a wake up call. The big issues that people have been discussing on here were completely exposed.

1) No competition at the breakdown. Consistently England didn't commit enough players to the ruck and they were penalised for it. My biggest issue was that they didn't adapt to Nigel Owens. Even if you disagree with some decisions, it was clear that he was allowing a competition at the break down. Commit more men and secure the ball.

2) Fly half is a massive weakness and reliant on 2 players. However having said that, Wigglesworth was better than Care. Care seems to be a clear finisher who exploits tired teams. Get Robson starting and bring Care on if Youngs is injured.

3) They played at a tempo that stopped England playing at theirs. Care and Youngs, struggle when on the back foot, and Ford and Farrell are not much better if under intense pressure. They showed that England are vulnerable if not allowed to play their own game.

4) England give away too many penalties. Our discipline is awful and until we get it under control we will not be winning the next world cup.

5) England cannot adapt when a team puts them under pressure. This has been shown by Italy and Ireland last year and by Scotland this year, if England are put under pressure and not allowed to play to their game plan, they struggle to adapt. Today England struggled at the break down and did almost nothing to change it. Against Italy it took until half time to come up with a new plan.

6) England's tackling is all wrong for turn overs. England's tackling is about hitting hard and forcing the opposition back so that they are behind the gain line. However this limits options for turnovers as it forces the defending player into his own team. Other teams have one player tackle, and one player who stays on his feet and drags the ball carrier down towards him and away from his team mates before releasing and then going over the ball. England's defense is good for forcing teams back, but give limited opportunities to turn over and if the opposition find space, then it struggles massively.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Hope this gives eddie a kick up the bum and he actually looks for some depth especially in the forwards.

PLAY EWERS SOMETIME EDDIE FFS.

 

[TheSaffycen]

To start, Williams over Cole, someone who can actually hit a ruck. Lawes to the bench, have Robshaw or Ewers at 6. Underhill to start at 7, Hughes if fit at 8, if he isn't fit have Wilson on as he's able to actually play 8.
Robson in at 9, in the midfield id even consider bringing in Manu if he's fit now. JJ didn't bring anything this game, and I do wonder what is going on with him atm? Maybe if the forwards perform he might play like he did.
Drop Brown. All this crap about performing for ages is just that, crap. Watson to 15 then May and Nowell, god I want Daly back.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Manu is fit but nowhere near ready for International rugby.

 

[NDC89]

To start, Williams over Cole, someone who can actually hit a ruck. Lawes to the bench, have Robshaw or Ewers at 6. Underhill to start at 7, Hughes if fit at 8, if he isn't fit have Wilson on as he's able to actually play 8.
Robson in at 9, in the midfield id even consider bringing in Manu if he's fit now. JJ didn't bring anything this game, and I do wonder what is going on with him atm? Maybe if the forwards perform he might play like he did.
Drop Brown. All this crap about performing for ages is just that, crap. Watson to 15 then May and Nowell, god I want Daly back.

I doubt he will drop Brown tbh. I want him to, Watson deserves a proper shot at 15, but I doubt it will happen. I think May may get dropped for Nowell as well. Nowell regularly does more in 15 mins than May does in the whole game. He just doesn't go looking for work at all.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I really hope we move Robshaw back to 6 and start Underhill at 7.
I see no reason why we need a lock at 6, It's not like the lineout struggles and we need the extra lineout specialist

8 continues to be an issue. I thought Hughes did well but he's clearly not at international level fitness (understandable considering his time away) and we have no one for the bench.

 

[NDC89]

8 continues to be an issue. I thought Hughes did well but he's clearly not at international level fitness (understandable considering his time away) and we have no one for the bench.

I thought Hughes had a good game today, got us going forward. Which is more than could be said for most others.

We could try Armand? He was around the camp in Argentina. Just a stop gap until all our 8s aren't crocked.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

6) Robshaw, 7) Underhill, bench: Ewers for me.

 

[Reiser99]

I'd like everyone's opinion on England's tackling style. I was watching today and while it's great for tackling teams on the gain line and pushing them back, it seems limit their opportunities for a turn over, where as other teams the support player often pulls the attacker towards them, let's go, then immediately goes over the ball. I think England's style actually makes turnovers harder.

 

[ncurd]

I'd like everyone's opinion on England's tackling style. I was watching today and while it's great for tackling teams on the gain line and pushing them back, it seems limit their opportunities for a turn over, where as other teams the support player often pulls the attacker towards them, let's go, then immediately goes over the ball. I think England's style actually makes turnovers harder.

I think the plan is to make them kick to gain territory as when Farrell and Ford are kicking well we'll win that battle vs most teams.

Ultimately the only change we can legitimately see happening next week is Lawes to bench with Underhill starting. But I honestly wouldn'r hold my breath I cant see EJ changing his team without a second relatively close perforamnce like that.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I think the plan is to make them kick to gain territory as when Farrell and Ford are kicking well we'll win that battle vs most teams.

Ultimately the only change we can legitimately see happening next week is Lawes to bench with Underhill starting. But I honestly wouldn'r hold my breath I cant see EJ changing his team without a second relatively close perforamnce like that.

Yeh, Youngs Ford Faz is a very tactical kicking core of the backline.

Today we just never established that, not sure why really.

 

[Reiser99]

I think the plan is to make them kick to gain territory as when Farrell and Ford are kicking well we'll win that battle vs most teams.

Ultimately the only change we can legitimately see happening next week is Lawes to bench with Underhill starting. But I honestly wouldn'r hold my breath I cant see EJ changing his team without a second relatively close perforamnce like that.

I get that, but when I think about how Ireland mastered the chop tackle and over the ball, other teams are a lot smarter when it comes to the breakdown than we are and I feel that while we can defend well, if teams put us under pressure they get quick ball and can exploit it.

 

[ncurd]

I think the reason we did poorly today is Scotland refused to get in a battle with us and when they did kick didn't just kick it to Brown like Wales did. They kicked into space or just behind players.

Also we never really established a front foot on tackling the players at the gain line and Scotland just waited for a break. They were incredibly patient.

I also think Russell had a stormer and played as well as Ford does when he's on song. That's pretty tough to beat when your entire forward pack go missing for most of the game.....honestly I barely remember a forward doing anything great in defence all match.

 

[Reiser99]

Actually that's a good point, today we kicked terribly, far too many went straight to the Scottish backs, and they found the space. However that for me is not a consistent issue that people have highlighted and more a specific issue to this game that was exacerbated by other areas.

 

[McTallshort]

I think the reason we did poorly today is Scotland refused to get in a battle with us and when they did kick didn't just kick it to Brown like Wales did. They kicked into space or just behind players.

Also we never really established a front foot on tackling the players at the gain line and Scotland just waited for a break. They were incredibly patient.

I also think Russell had a stormer and played as well as Ford does when he's on song. That's pretty tough to beat when your entire forward pack go missing for most of the game.....honestly I barely remember a forward doing anything great in defence all match.

Good point. I dont remember one scottish kick that went to hand. Every time one of the back 3 had to back peddle or come forward to take the ball. Excellent game plan

 

[ncurd]

Good point. I dont remember one scottish kick that went to hand. Every time one of the back 3 had to back peddle or come forward to take the ball. Excellent game plan

Its simple tried and true tactic 'kick it into space' bit it's amazing how many teams fail at it. I can only assume it's easier said than done. But Scotland did it perfectly today.

 

[Maverick1987]

There's was only one reason we lost this game so badly and it's our inability to contest at the breakdown ! It happened when Lancaster was coach and now it reared it's ugly head again ! We don't need to carry passengers like Hartley and Cole when we have plenty of experience elsewhere .... make Faz captain and let's get our best players on the field and put France to the sword . That way we "might" be close enough to Ireland to have a chance on the last weekend .....

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I get that, but when I think about how Ireland mastered the chop tackle and over the ball, other teams are a lot smarter when it comes to the breakdown than we are and I feel that while we can defend well, if teams put us under pressure they get quick ball and can exploit it.

We just have absolutely no interest of competing at the breakdown.
We're happy to leave the other team in possession so that we can have a full defensive line - the issue is that when they send hard runners at pace, dragging several tacklers in, and then we don't compete/slow down the ball it just leaves gaps/space out wide and they can then exploit it with their quick ball.

Find it kind of ironic that for the first time in a while we don't have any rugby league coaches but we're playing more like rugby league than ever (lone runners with no support for the ruck, no interest in the breakdown)

 

[Reiser99]

We just have absolutely no interest of competing at the breakdown.
We're happy to leave the other team in possession so that we can have a full defensive line - the issue is that when they send hard runners at pace, dragging several tacklers in, and then we don't compete/slow down the ball it just leaves gaps/space out wide and they can then exploit it with their quick ball.

Find it kind of ironic that for the first time in a while we don't have any rugby league coaches but we're playing more like rugby league than ever (lone runners with no support for the ruck, no interest in the breakdown)

Yeah and I can understand the logic, for me though it feels a lot like Warrenball, in that it worked well at first against teams, but as they figure it out, it becomes less effective and actually a liability.